Exams Required for Certification

To certify for CCNP, CCDP, or CCIP, you must pass multiple exams. This book deals with the BSCI exam 642-801. The qualifying exam for CCIP and CCNP is CCNA, which you can achieve by passing either the CCNA exam #640-801 or the INTRO and ICND exams (640-821 and 640-811, respectively). For CCDP, you must first pass the CCDA exam 640-861. The CCNP exams generally match the same topics that are covered in one of the official Cisco courses, but in most casesand certainly on the BSCI exammore topics are covered on the exam than are in the course. Table I-1 outlines the exams and the courses with which they are most closely matched.

Table I-1. Exams and Courses for Which BSCI Is Required, by Certification Level

Certification	Exam Number	Exam Name	Course Most Closely Matching Exam Requirements
CCNA	640-821 640-811 640-801	INTRO ICND CCNA	Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices (ICND)
CCDA	640-861	DESGN	Designing for Cisco Internetwork Solutions
CCNP	642-801	BSCI	Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI)
	642-811	BCMSN	Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN)
	642-891 ^[*]	Composite (COMP)	BSCI, BCMSN
	642-821	BCRAN	Building Cisco Remote Access Networks (BCRAN)
	642-831	CIT	Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting (CIT)
CCDP	642-801	BSCI	Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks
	642-811	BCMSN	BCMSN
	642-871	ARCH	Designing Cisco Network Architectures
CCIP	642-801	BSCI	Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks
	642-641	QoS exam	Implementing Cisco Quality of Service
	640-910	MPLS exam	Implementing Cisco MPLS
	642-661	BGP exam	Configuring BGP on Cisco Routers

^[*] Exam 642-891 meets the same requirements as passing these exams: 642-801 and 642-811. Therefore, you can substitute exam 642-891 for those two exams, but you can expect a longer exam. Exam 642-891 is also the exam to take when recertifying for CCNP and CCDP.

Be cautioned that although the exam coverage and course coverage are similar, there are no guarantees that if you know absolutely everything in the course, you will pass the test. Cisco is moving more toward certifications being tied to technology, not to specific courses. Books in the Cisco Press Exam Certification Guide series can help you prepare for the certification exam, with the added guidance of stressing the most important exam items and coverage of other topics not taught in the prerequisite courses. Cisco also maintains the right to change the exam content at will to ensure that the exam is current and fair.

Topics on the BSCI Exam

The exact topics that appear on the BSCI exam is a very closely guarded secret. Only those who write the questions for Cisco and who have access to the entire question database truly know what is on the exam. Cisco reveals only general details about the contents and objectives of the BSCI exam. Because Cisco maintains the right to change this information without notice, it is important that you check the web site for the most current information. You can find a list of Cisco exams and the general outline that accompanies each exam at http://www.cisco.com/go/training.

Table I-2 lists the BSCI 640-801 exam topics posted on the Cisco web site at the publication time of this book. The table reflects the part of the book in which each topic is discussed. Note that some topics are discussed in more than one part.

Table I-2. Cisco Exam Topics

Part	Cisco Exam Topic
Part I, "IP Routing Fundamentals"	List the key information routers needed to route data. Describe classful and classless routing protocols. Describe link-state router protocol operation. Compare distance vector and link-state routing protocols. Describe concepts relating to extending IP addresses and the use of VLSMs to extend IP addresses. Describe the three-layer hierarchical design model and explain the function of each layer: Access, Distribution, and Core. Given specific requirements, choose the correct routing protocol to meet the requirements. Identify the correct IP addressing scheme, including features of IPv6. Identify the steps to configure a router for Network Address Translation (NAT) with overload, static translations, and route maps. Describe the concepts relating to route summarization and apply them to hypothetical scenarios.
Part II, "OSPF"	Describe the features and operation of single-area OSPF. Describe the features and operation of multiple-area OSPF. Given an addressing scheme and other laboratory parameters, identify the steps to configure a single-area OSPF environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Given an addressing scheme and other laboratory parameters, identify the steps to configure a multiple-area OSPF environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Identify the steps to verify OSPF operation in a single area. Identify the steps to verify OSPF operation in multiple areas. Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to determine the cause of route selection errors and configuration problems.
Part III, "IS-IS"	Explain basic OSI terminology and network layer protocols used in OSI. Identify similarities and differences between Integrated IS-IS and OSPF. List the types of IS-IS routers and their role in IS-IS area design. Describe the hierarchical structure of IS-IS areas. Describe the concept of establishing adjacencies. Given an addressing scheme and other laboratory parameters, identify the steps to configure Cisco routers for proper Integrated IS-IS operation. Identify verification methods that ensure proper operation of Integrated IS-IS on Cisco routers. Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to determine the cause of route selection errors and configuration problems.
Part IV, "EIGRP"	Describe the features and operation of EIGRP. Given a set of network requirements, identify the steps to configure an EIGRP environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Identify the steps to verify EIGRP operation. Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to determine the cause of route selection errors and configuration problems.
Part V, "BGP"	Describe the features and operation of BGP. Explain how BGP policy-based routing functions within an autonomous system. Describe the scalability problems associated with internal BGP. Given a set of network requirements, identify the steps to configure a BGP environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to determine the cause of route selection errors and configuration problems.
Part VI, "Redistribution and Policy-Based Routing"	Identify the steps to select and configure the different ways to control routing update traffic. Identify the steps to configure policy-based routing using route maps. Identify the steps to configure router redistribution in a network. Explain the use of redistribution between BGP and Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs). Identify the steps to verify route redistribution. Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to determine the cause of route selection errors and configuration problems.
Part VII, "Scenarios"	Given specific requirements, choose the correct routing protocol to meet the requirements. Describe the concepts relating to route summarization and apply them to hypothetical scenarios. Given a set of network requirements, identify the steps to configure an EIGRP environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Given an addressing scheme and other laboratory parameters, identify the steps to configure a multiple-area OSPF environment and verify proper operation (within described guidelines) of your routers. Identify the steps to configure route redistribution in a network. Identify the steps to select and configure the different ways to control routing update traffic. Describe concepts relating to extending IP addresses and the use of VLSMs to extend IP addresses. Describe the features and operation of EIGRP. Describe the features and operation of multiarea OSPF. Compare classful and classless routing protocols.

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